.Sprint and Motorola have just announced a new rugged, push-to-talk phone for Nextel – the Motorola Brute i680 – which is available starting today.

The Brute i680 is a bulky clamshell that meets the Military Specification 810F for shock, vibration, dust, low and high temperatures, radiation, salt fog, humidity, blowing rain and low pressure.

The new phone comes with Sprint Nextel’s exclusive Public Safety application, which “allows public safety personnel to communicate, even if they are out of network range – an irreplaceable communication tool in times of emergency.”